Ellsbury Rising Swiftly For Red Sox
By Ian Browne / MLB.com
9/24/2007
Turn your eyes away for just an instant and you might miss Jacoby Ellsbury scoring from second base on a wild pitch, as he did at Fenway Park in early July.
Better yet, you might miss Ellsbury diving into the visitors' bullpen at Tropicana Field, kicking over a chair and making a crash landing on a pitcher's mound with the baseball safely in his glove, as he did so deftly on Friday against Tampa Bay.
Or maybe you'd miss Ellsbury effortlessly stealing second even when the other team pitches out, as happened against the Devil Rays on Sunday afternoon. There was also the line single to right field that he hit on Saturday that actually turned into a double because Ellsbury basically just decided to never stop running.
It all happens so fast with Ellsbury that you better pay close attention or you might miss the way he has electrified the Red Sox down the stretch.
Did somebody say something about a September callup? With left fielder Manny Ramirez out of the mix all month with a strained left oblique and center fielder Coco Crisp missing games here and there with back woes, Ellsbury has turned into a mainstay for a team in the middle of a suddenly heated race for the American League East title.
What has been quicker than even Ellsbury's speed is the way he has thrived amid life in the fast lane -- playing every day for the Boston Red Sox.
"I think you have to grow up quick," said Ellsbury, who turned 24 on Sept. 11. "There's not really a learning curve, especially when you're playing for an organization like the Red Sox. You're expected to go out there and perform right away."
Yes, the man who came into the year as Boston's most highly-lauded positional prospect has performed all right. In his first 94 Major League at-bats, Ellsbury is hitting .372 with 20 runs, six doubles, one triple, three homers, 15 RBIs and nine stolen bases.
But there's something beyond Ellsbury's numbers and tools that have caught the attention of the man everyone views as the leader of the Red Sox.
"He's helped us with his speed, he's helped us with his defense, he's helped us with his offense," said Red Sox catcher and captain Jason Varitek. "But what I like most is the way he's handled himself. I tip my hat to him. He's handled himself awesome, he's carried himself great. He was thrown into the fire. The nice thing was that he's had some success but he's handled it extremely well."
Ellsbury is someone the entire organization can take pride in. He is providing exactly what the club envisioned in June of 2005, when they nabbed the Oregon State star with the 23rd overall pick in the First-Year Player Draft.
"He was always really polished maturity-wise," said Ben Cherington, vice president of player personnel for the Red Sox. "I think he works hard on certain parts of his game, the mental side of the game, the approach to his at-bats and understanding the running game. He's worked on getting better at those things. As a person, he was always pretty mature and confident and secure and knew what he had to do to get ready. He had a lot of good qualities when we drafted him."
But it was Ellsbury's desire to not just live off the scouting reports that has enabled him to rise in such swift fashion.
"Ellsbury had a great developmental year at Double-A and Triple-A," said Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein. "He really learned a lot about his swing and made some adjustments right before he was called up this last time. With his aptitude and athletic ability, he's been able to make adjustments and compete very quickly at the highest level."
Once Ramirez returns to the lineup -- which will likely be in the next few days -- manager Terry Francona will have the task of finagling ways for Ellsbury to get at-bats. But there's no question Ellsbury will be on the postseason roster. It's just a matter of how prominent a role he plays.
"It's happened so quickly that I really haven't had too much time to even think about it," said Ellsbury. "That might be a good thing. Just go out and play. I'm really not thinking too much about what's going to happen next or what they're going to do in October. Just go out and help the team each and every day and I think that's the best way to look at it right now."
The good thing about Ellsbury is that if his bat does cool off, he'll have plenty of other ways to help the team.
"I think he has the type of game that can impact a game in different ways," Cherington said. "He can contribute defensively or on the bases one night and offensively the next. I think sometimes players like that ... it's sometimes a little easier transition just because they can affect the game in more ways than one. A one dimensional player sort of has to wait for an opportunity to do one thing.
"He doesn't have to wait for the game to come to him. I think that's part of it. He also comes in a clubhouse where he has a lot of good veteran support and he's got a manager that believes in him. It makes for a pretty easy transition."
Ellsbury isn't foolish enough to think he's made up for the absence of Ramirez or even Kevin Youkilis, who hasn't played for a week. Instead, he's just helped to lessen the sting.
"Obviously we want those guys," said Ellsbury. "We need them for October, they need to get healthy right now. It's been good for me just to get some playing time and get some experience, especially in a playoff race. I'm just trying to help out the team any way possible."
Under different circumstances, Ellsbury might have been home by now looking ahead to 2008.
"I could be home right now, but I'd be training," said Ellsbury. "But I got the opportunity and I was prepared for it. This experience right now is more than any training or any video could have prepared you for. In order to get better, you have to be on the field playing."
The stage -- or the level of competition -- doesn't seem to matter for Ellsbury. When he gets on a baseball field, he makes things happen.
"[Assistant to the general manager] Allard Baird made the comment in Spring Training that he has, 'Survival skills,'" Francona said. "I think that's his way of saying he knows how to compete. He's given us a big lift, a big boost of energy. Any time you see young guys, first of all, when they come over in the middle of the year or later in the year -- win over veterans -- they're doing something really, really right."
At a time of year when players can get tired both physically and mentally, Ellsbury's fresh legs figure to be counted on heavily by the Red Sox.